Cellists and other string instrument players often take the limitations of their instrument for granted. One such limitation is low sound volume, due to inefficiency of energy conversion from mechanical bowing into sound energy from a resonating cello chamber. To alleviate this problem, musicians often group multiple cellos together within a string section of an orchestra to balance off a much smaller number of individual wind instruments or brass instruments. Compared to a wind or brass instrument a cello is wimpy.
Another problem for many is the large size of the cello, making transportation difficult for small, young players. Yet another is the fact that most cellos are played by sandwiching the instrument between the legs to keep the cello steady. Those who wear a short dress or skirt may find this very uncomfortable, or worse, which further limits usability of this instrument. Still another limitation is that most cellos cannot be played while walking or marching, which inhibits use in a marching band or while sauntering around a house or restaurant.
Recent developments in electric cellos alleviate the wimpy sound problem. An electric cello produces an electric signal output that may feed headphones, or that can be amplified and output to a speaker system. See for example the Silent Cello™ from Yamaha, cellos from NS Research, Jensen, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,255,565 and 36,664,461. Virtually all of these cellos are held and played in the traditional manner. A few are mounted on posts above the floor and the NS Design offers a shoulder harness with a very small, 12 inch wide inflexible stomach brace that does not reasonably prevent movement sideways. Many electric cellos have strings that extend far (eg. more than 6 inches, or even more than 9 inches) below the bridge, in a throwback to the old style. Unfortunately, many or most electric cellos fail to utilize fully the technology available but use big bridges mounted on solid supports and may even use old style tuning pegs.
Some electric cellos rely on digital electronics to recreate a cello like sound and use a separate, isolated pickup for each string, but tend to neglect the natural rich sound created by the bridge between the resonating chamber and the strings. Also sometimes ignored is the inter string energy transfer that occurs when vibration energy of a note from one string activates an open string that shares a harmonic or sub-harmonic relationship with the note. Such subtle interactions that give the cello its characteristic sound can be eliminated when individual isolated pickups are used for individual strings.
Developments in this area may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,120, which describes placement of a piezo electric crystal under the bass side of the bridge foot, but which still relies on a large resonating chamber; and U.S. Pat. No. 2004/0129127 A1, which purports to describe a number of “improvements” to the violin family, but which sound a little fantastic on the surface, and do not seem to be backed up with any significant experimental results. Also see U.S. Pat. Nos. 2002/0157523 A1, 4,389,917 and 6,803,510, which purport to present improvements to bridges and sensors located at the bridge. Electric cellos and basses are known that are held by floor stands, as seen for example in www.vectorinstruments.com/cellos/cellette.html.
Despite numerous advances in guitar and other stringed instruments over the last 75 years, many electric cellos use old technology and even maintain the unnecessary limitation of a large body, forcing the use of thumb positions. While such quaint limiting features may appeal to a small group of traditional cello players, a much larger number of would be cellists simply pass on to the more modern, more convenient and more adaptable guitar. Accordingly, cello playing is much less popular than it should be and cello music is greatly eclipsed by other instruments such as the guitar and electronic keyboards.
Other stringed instruments have related problems. For example, the electric bass guitar is considered too large by some people, and is not easily played while marching outside. This stringed instrument also is not easily bowed. A support that allows easy attachment to a player and that allows stable placement while walking around in a playing position would be an advantage and provide new opportunities for musical expression, particularly in athletic venues such as marching bands at sporting events.